It seems that when I choose a country I want to see, something bad happens there! Now that I have chosen Greece for 2009, Athens is in termoil. I am sad for the people who live there, but now I wonder if I should go there next year.

Marsh,here are some pictures..

http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gal...tri-atene.html

Marsh,

The death of this young boy is horrifying, and my heart breaks for his family. But unfortunately these kinds of tragedies and riots can and do occur in almost every part of the world. Unless you're traveling very soon, I see no reason to postpone your trip.

there is no reason not to go - these troubles will be over long before you travel. I am leaving for Athens on Christmas Day and have no worries - yet. ;-)

Given this sudden and tragic conflagration, I was hoping that somebody would bring up the topic on the forum.

Before we get worked up over:
- opinionated news releases flaming about "anarchists, guerillas, extremists, left-wing sympathizers"
- the Greek government pledging to address the unrest aggressively
- tourists thinking of canceling travel plans, making analogies to the recent unrests in the Middle East, Bali, Bangkok

I find it important to understand the underlying social and economic issues of the country we're visiting… especially during times when the global economic slowdown and resulting unemployment may strain the situation in places other than Detroit and California... such as in Greece.

I know little about it ... except that in neighboring southern Italy the younger generation has also been having problems: the lack of opportunities, impotence at addressing reform through a rigid public service system, a possibly antiquated political system controlled by the elderly, etc. .

And many of us may remember student protests in the 60's in the US, or the more violent leftist ones in France, Germany, Italy.

So at a minimum I feel it necessary to read "other sides of this story" in various parts of the world:

- http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...864982,00.html
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7772456.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7771628.stm
- http://www.canada.com/topics/news/wo...tml?id=1044454
- http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cms...8927girata.asp
- http://www.ekathimerini.com/
- http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt2m1/po...0/450837/text/
- http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article...ens_id=1127970

I'm all for understanding the issue and reading about the other side of the story, but I agree with Marsh. It's disquieting to be planning a trip to Greece for next summer and to read about riots in Athens.

I haven't booked anything yet, it's a little early, so I'm going to keep close watch over the next month or so, and see if it's a one-off, or seems to be more systemic and serious.

Alice

Oh no, my perfect little holiday marred by the inconsiderate death of a young boy! Couldn't they plan their quaint provincial uprisings after my trip?

lbk - will you be sailing into Piraeus anytime soon?

Tight lines and all? - cheers

Greece has had such violence periodically for decades - ever since the Colonels ran the place ruthlessly. I do not think the tourist would be in harm's way - if sensible - at all.

I'd go there tomorrow if i could.

There are protests almost weekly in Athens. Every time I have been in the city there have been protests somewhere. You just have to get used to it.

I was once caught up in a protest in front of the Parliament Building in June of 1998. I was not injured at all and thought it was kind of exciting.

Being worried about riots going on right now when you aren't leaving for Greece until next summer is DAFT!!!

Get a grip.

Thin

Palenque, I am not well versed on Greece; had a few biz trips to Athens, but no "me" time. Doesn't the trouble in Greece go back to end of WWII when the U.S. had to support the anti-communist takeover? It has a checkered past of instability and chaos in gov.

If you are concerned about safety in Athens, read the latest Warden Message on the US Embassy Athens website: http://athens.usembassy.gov/warden_messages.html

Note that nowhere does it warn against travel to Greece. If anything, the State Department is usually overcautious. Me? I just booked my flight to Athens for next May.

The bubbles have always got their knickers in a knot about something.

THis is nothing new.

There's no reason a tourist should get caught up in it (although Athens should be avoided like the plague in any case as it's an absolute hell-hole)

" It's disquieting to be planning a trip to Greece for next summer and to read about riots in Athens. "

Only if you're hysterical. For heaven's sake, get a grip.

Do people start behaving like wittering old maids every time the LA police kill or beat up a suspect or immigrant and the black or Hispanic population riots? Are there really Americans who start having second thoughts about going to California after a night of rioting in San Diego?

Or do you just reserve this absurd over-reaction to Abroad?

flanneruk wrote: "Or do you just reserve this absurd over-reaction to Abroad?"

Abroad is a big and frightening place. It's full of foreigners. Many of them speak strange languages and eat funny food.

Pity us Irish. For us, Abroad is even bigger.

As Great Uncle Matthew said in Nancy Mitford's novels

Abroad is bloody and foreigners are fiends

Marsh, unfortunately IMO, is a very typical traveler - easily scared by threats of violence and has not encountered perhaps these types of riots, which veteran travelers have several times most likely and thus know that they are very localized - not the whole city, etc.

I witnessed many a youth riot in Amsterdam in the 70s and 80s - where cops on horses charged the crowd and water canons propelled rioters right into the canals. I stood by mouth agape but never threatened - because i stood well away, etc.

Thus i sympathize with his/her concerns whilst dispelling them.

That flimflanner.co.uk seems to think this is only an American reaction shows he is full of more than a wee bit of Blarney. UKites would react about the same i think.

In trying to understand what is happening, and to gauge its severity, I find Heimdall's link the the US Embassy http://athens.usembassy.gov/warden_messages.html illuminating: it looks like at least twice a year they've come up with such neutral-sounding warnings; especially every November, the anniversary of the 1973 student riots put down by the army with bloodshed.

I am trying not to get swayed by the newsmedia's penchant for sensationalizing gory pictures for the sake of Breaking News programmming. And I remember living in Paris in the 1960s, where students considered it a "badge of honor" to constantly demonstrate on the Left Bank… with various degrees of violence.

The widely spread current unreast is probably a multi-layer issue, including deeper economic and political aspects. But on the surface it seems to be student and teacher unrest about proposed reform measures ... in a country which believes very strongly in the value of education.

In perusing the various papers on this subject, amazingly I find the most clear article coming from China http://www.chinapost.com.tw/internat...&sPeriod=7 ... quoting Reuters in Athens.

We are watching the developments very closely as our daughter is supposed to spend next semester at the university in Thessaloniki. Is anyone reading this site actually in Greece now, or just returned? I'd love to get some first hand observations.

Hot Damn, I knew I could find some excitement for our trip in July. I miss the old taxi riots in Santo Domingo or the rollicking fun of dodging Noriega's defense force in the jungles of Panama while doing a repo on a drug runner's yacht.

Why heck, just a hop-skip-and-jump away in Orlando there is a knifing or shooting a couple of times a week.

Man, if they can just keep it simmering for a bit longer...

Stuff happens everywhere and things that are news now are quickly forgotten and replaced in the not to distant future. If you happen to get caught up in a problem, roll with it. Your home town is probably more dangerous.

But, Miss Prism, Jassy declared that her father (Uncle Mathew) was subhuman after she gave him an "inkblot" test and he said it reminded him of Stephen's Blue Black.

Thin, a fan of Nancy Mitford